Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 44.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 835 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 658 shares during the period. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Visa were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 377.3% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:V opened at $370.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $683.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $371.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $345.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $335.70.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.51 EPS. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,807.49. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 168,162 shares of company stock valued at $58,645,479. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.80.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.